William h



. WILLIAM H. TOWERS, E PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

y PENHOLDER.

speceatief Letters Patent No.. 12,734, dated April 17, 1855.

To all whomitmldg] concern.' 1 y Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. ToWERs,

of the city and county of Philadelphia and.

e State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented a new and useful Attachmentto {Penholders and "Pens for. `Supplyingthe Latter -with Ink as `It is` Exhausted y Therefrom, `which is describedasfellows, reference being had to thel annexed` drawings of the same, making part of this specilication.

n Figure lisaview of apen holder and pen with the-improvement attached. Fig. 2

. isa side elevationlfofditto, o Fig. 3 is'asection of ditto:

they refer to corresponding parts-4: 1

The nature 'offthis Invention;` and `provement consistsfin inserting inthe lower hollow end of "the fpjernholder or attaching toany convenient part of this end of the same, a small lever "made flat orcurved at its lower end in order to receive between its "surface `and they, lower v'concavepart of the `pen a small piecefoffsponge or other porous and elastic,substancelcapable of absorbing` `and `retaining the ink, and having a button I at its upperend or otherwise formed at this part to enable thepenman to depress the same `to compress *the sponge between the lower end of the lever and the pen, and cause the inlrto belextracted therefrom, and

o, `keep up the supply of inktothe nibs as it is o used in writing, at "the will of the penman,

without the constant dipping of the pen in the inkstand, asheretofore-required. l

To enable `others skilled in the art to make anduse my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation. n

The lever A, `maybe made `oit" the same metal as the cylinder B, of the holder, or

Aof other suitable material and theportion of it inserted in the said cylinder of the holder,

` `is made narrower `than the lower end. It

is provided with `pivots, about midway between its ends, which pivots enter holes in `the sides of the Cylinder and serve as a ful` I Crum for it "to move upon. It is provided witha pin C, at `its upper end, passing through an opening in' the cylinder from the outside, and having a button or head o-n `Its end, situated in such relation `to the fore fingerof the hand of the penman, when grasping the holder to Write, to enable him` to depress the same at will, and is enlarged, or made the same width as the pen or nearly so, at the lower end, Where it is provided with a `small piece of sponge D, or other `porous and elastic substance, which is either secured to its front surface, or simply con* `fined `between the same and the body of the pen, immediately above the nibs, in such a `manner `as to enable it to be readily taken n e. ,o o n y n n n I outat any time to be cleansed, or for other `Where thesamelet-ters occur in the iigures purpose, `and at the same time to have sufficient` substance' or bulk and elasticity to both retain the required quantity of ink,

"when dipped in the ink, to supply the nibs,

and to force the lower portion of the lever sponge to extract the ink.

At each successive dipping of the pen in `the ink, the penman inserts the nibs sufficiently far below` the surface to enable the sponge to become suiiiciently saturated with ink, as the occasion may require; and as it is used from the nibs of the pen, the button or head of the pen is pressed upon by the writers foreinger, so as to depress the upper end of the lever, and compress the sponge between the lower widened part and the pen, and cause the ink absorbed in the Having thus fully described my invention,

what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- Y The combination of the sponge with the lever and pen, arranged and operated in the manner and for the purpose. herein described.

WILLIAM H. TOWERS.

Witnesses CHARLES D.' FREEMAN, MASON NAYLOR.

Strom the pen, after it is pressed npon the 

